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"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom."

- Aristotle-


When Raphael opened his eyes, he noticed one green form leaning above him.

"Raphie! Are you awake?" a voice asked cheerfully. It rang through Raph's head. Oh, damn, Mikey, he thought. "Donnie! Sensei! Raph's awake!"

He could hear as footsteps were approaching him. Soon, two new forms blocked his vision.

"Raph, how are you? Does anything hurt?"

What do you think, Donnie?

"Ugh," was all he said.

"My son, I am glad to see you awake," said a gentle voice.

I'd rather be asleep, Sensei...

"Don..."

"Yes? Do you need a painkiller?"

"What happened?" he opened his eyes fully.

"The Kraangs! Bro, it was horrible! They outnumbered us!" Mikey whined.

Ah, really, it rings a bell. He looked over the faces. Donnie wore his doctor-face, he was ready to act, grab medicine, cut him up, anything. Though the image of him being cut up, made him cringe. But there was something wrong with him. Like Donnie was hiding something. Mikey grinned. He was happy that Raph woke up. However, Raph noticed something in his eyes. Something, that wasn't part of the happiness. Is he sad? Why? Do I look that bad? he frowned and looked at his father. His smile was warm, but the same expression was shining in his eyes. I wonder how Leo's looking at me. I bet he's not even smiling. He's ready to lecture me. He looked to his father's right, but there was nobody. Huh? Where's Leo? He started to sit up.

"Oh, easy, Raph," Donnie gripped him and helped him with this movement. When Raph was sitting steadily, he looked around. He's not here. What the shell? Is he that mad at me?

"Where's Leo?" he asked and saw as the others tensed. "Hey, I asked something. Where is he?" Mikey and Donnie glanced at one another dolefully. Oh my, he's not injured, is he? Or...no, he can't be dead! "Where. Is. Leonardo?"

"Well..." Donnie started. "We don't know."

"What? How can't you know?" Raph demanded.

"When we woke up, he was nowhere to be found. It was only you lying on the rooftop," Donnie explained.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Raph was ready to jump off the cot, but Donnie's hands were pressed against his shoulders and stopped him.

"You need to rest, Raph."

"My shell! I'm fine! Just some bruises and whatever."

"And a big dump on your head. You have a concussion," Donnie said firmly. "Rest. After that, we'll go looking for Leo."

"After that?" Raph fumed. "Who knows what will happen to Leo until then!"

"Raphael, Donatello is right. I am not allowing you to go to the surface until you are feeling better," Master Splinter spoke. "Furthermore, it is daylight."

"But Sensei! Leo needs us!"

"I know. I am worried, too. However, we need to wait, my son."

Raph wasn't satisfied with it, but he had no other choice. He slowly lay down to sleep a bit, so his family can't say that he didn't rest, and then go for Leo. What a plan.


When Raphael woke up, nobody was in the lab. He sat up with the help of his arms and carefully rose to his feet. He felt a little dizzy, but it won't stop him from looking for his brother. He stepped to the door and left the lab slowly. He walked towards the kitchen from where he heard noises. He stopped at the door and cleared his throat.

"Raph!" Donnie jumped up. "You should rest!"

"I've rested enough. Let's go!"

"But Raph," before Donnie could continue, Raph interrupted him.

"I'm going with or without you guys." and with that, he left.

Donnie and Mikey looked at each other.

"He won't rest," Mikey stated.

"I know," Donnie sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Shouldn't we go after him?"

"We should..." Donnie replied and climbed to his feet. "Let's go"


It was getting dark, but it was still earlier than their usual patrol time.

"Raph, slow down!" Donnie yelled after his red-clad brother.

"Hurry up, guys!" Raph yelled back and started to run faster.

They were jumping roof to roof until Raph suddenly stopped.

"We were fighting here, weren't we?"

"Yes, we were. But it looks clean now." Donnie said.

"What do you remember, guys?"

"We were after a mutagen ooze when the Kraangs attacked us. We were fighting and I remember being hit in the head."

"Same here dudes," Mikey said. "They totally outnumbered us. And they have totally trained, 'cause they were so much better than last time."

"I only remember the start of the fight. What happened to Leo? Was he knocked down too?"

"In my last memory, he was fine and fighting," Donnie answered.

"Same here," Mikey added.

"We gotta break into the TCRI."

"What?" Donnie and Mikey shouted in unison.

"It's obvious: the Kraangs kidnapped Leo and now he's being held in the TCRI. Where else could he be?"

"Perhaps..." No, no. It's better not to think about it, Donnie thought.

"Perhaps what?" Raph asked.

"Nothing," Donnie replied hastily.

"Donnie. I strongly advise you to tell us what you're thinking of before I beat it out of you."

Donnie gulped and looked away.

"Donatello," Raph warned him in a dangerously low tone.

"I just thought about what if the Kraangs gave Leo to the... Shredder."

"The Shredder? Oh no!" Mikey shouted.

"Because the Kraangs are Shredder's allies," Donnie continued. "And Shredder hates us, especially Leo, since he's the leader, and perhaps he believes that he can get us and Master Splinter by Leo being the bait."

"So... what now?" Mikey asked.

"Let's start with the TCRI?" Donnie looked at Raph questioningly.

"Let's start with the TCRI," Raph nodded.


"It's getting light," Donnie said. "We should head home."

"But we haven't checked Shredder's lair yet," Raph replied.

"We have no time for it now. We can come back at night."

"Leo has no time for waiting!" Raph said louder.

"Donnie's right, Raph," Mikey spoke calmly. "We can be easily seen. Plus, I guess, Master Splinter is already mad at us for coming up without his permission."

Raph clenched his fists and turned around. He looked at the high buildings in front of him and watched as the Sun started to wake the city up.

"Raph?" Mikey asked uncertainly.

Raphael released a sigh, as he turned to his brothers. "Alright, let's go home." He didn't want to, he didn't like it, but he had to accept his defeat.

The road seemed extremely long and quiet to the turtles. Raphael's head was throbbing and his whole body was praying for a little rest. Raph knew that he needed to sleep, but this was the last thing he wanted to do. He had to find his brother! No matter what!

Donatello's face showed concern. He was anxious about his brother's wellbeing. When he realized his older brother wasn't with them on that roof, he started to panic. He was the first who wake up. As the family doctor and genius, he felt ashamed that he didn't know what to do. But then, Mikey opened his eyes, and he pulled out his calm face and covered his fearful one. He had to support Mikey, both physically and mentally.

Michelangelo didn't notice at first. He saw the slightly injured Donnie who immediately helped him up. Then, Raph's unmoving body caught his attention. His stomach twisted as he was approaching his strong big brother who was lying helplessly and unconsciously. But he believed that Raph would be fine. He planned to bake a pizza for his brothers at home. As he helped Donnie to lift Raph up, the thought came to his mind: why wasn't Leo helping?

"You won't help, Leo?" he asked half-teasingly, half-seriously. But Leo didn't answer.

"He's not here, Mikey," Donnie replied.

"Where is he? Did he go for help?"

"No..." Donnie sighed sorrowfully. "He disappeared."

And at this moment, he lost his appetite.

The boys were frustrated as they got home. But this disappointment turned into slight fear when they saw their father at the entrance.

"Um, Sensei!" Donnie exclaimed. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Why were you not in the lair?" he asked angrily.

"Well, Sensei, we were... um..."

"We were looking for Leo," Raph interrupted his purple-clad brother.

"Why did you not inform me about this?"

"Raph just ran off and we had to follow him," Mikey said. Raph snapped his head towards him, narrowed his eyes, and crossed his arms.

"Well yeah, since nobody cared to find Leo. Somebody had to do it!"

"Raph, we want to find Leo just like you, but you were and still are injured. And we weren't in our best shape either. We needed time to recover," Donnie snapped back.

"So you just want to sit here, watching TV and eating pizza, while Leo's being tortured and who knows what the Shredder is doing with him right now!" Raph yelled.

"The Shredder?" Master Splinter's eyes grow wide.

"We didn't find Leo at the TCRI. So, we thought, perhaps the Kraangs gave Leo to the Shredder," Donnie explained.

Suddenly, the old rat felt sick. He was already worried about what the Kraangs wanted to do with his son, but now, that he learned, that his precious, beloved son might be at the Shredders... he wanted to run to the Shredder's hideout and protect his baby boy, but he couldn't. He had to keep his sanity and give wise advice to his sons.

"Go and rest now, my sons," He said finally. "We will continue the searching tomorrow."

Now, they didn't protest and actually obeyed their father.

'We are going to find you, Leonardo.'


.- I don't own the turtles or the other characters-.